26 replies to this topic

[KZ]

Ok, several resorts have/had them, and i ask why?

Here is Mountain High's Yan double double. why did they not just put in a triple, or a quad?

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[KZ]

Here is another picture.

I understand when resorts have like a hsq, then a double, but this just seems stupid

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[Kelly]

Yan had good relationships with few area owners. Some let him test his new ideas at there areas. Squaw Valley Gondola, Mammoth Mt. people mover, Mt. High double double. I believe Mt. High moved/removed some lifts and owner used extra parts for more capacity, this was a win situation for owner, he got the capacity and for Yan he got the job.

[KZ]

Id have to agree, squaw had doppelmayrs and pomas between the yans. I wonder why they didnt get the yan hsq

[edmontonguy]

the reason is probably flexability. when volume is high both are used and when it is low one is used

[Emax]

Ryan B, on Nov 28 2003, 01:37 PM, said:

Yan had good relationships with few area owners. Some let him test his new ideas at there areas. Squaw Valley Gondola, Mammoth Mt. people mover, Mt. High double double. I believe Mt. High moved/removed some lifts and owner used extra parts for more capacity, this was a win situation for owner, he got the capacity and for Yan he got the job.

Ryan B
ps - I suspect Squaw's was a "on and off" relationship.

You've got that right.
I believe that Yan's first double-double was at Snow Valley. It had been in place for a few years when I Came to L/E in 1975.

[Carl]

Here's one in Wyoming.

Carl

[Bogong]

That actually looks like a "double triple" to me!

[lastchair_44]

Where is that lift Carl?

[CH3skier]

lastchair_44, on Jun 21 2009, 12:48 PM, said:

Where is that lift Carl?

I'm not Carl, but I will answer that questions for you. White Pine ski area. Here is a link to their photo gallery.

http://www.whitepine...hotogallery.htm

[Phoenix]

CH3skier, on Jun 21 2009, 11:00 AM, said:

I'm not Carl, but I will answer that questions for you. White Pine ski area. Here is a link to their photo gallery.

http://www.whitepine...hotogallery.htm

If I am understanding the trail map correctly, the triple on the left only goes part-way up, while the triple on the right goes to the top. So, building the lift in this fashion would save some money on materials since both lifts are sharing the towers. This would make sense.

[lift_electrical]

Sugarloaf, Spillway East and West, and Double Bummer East and West, Borvig double doubles. One side shorter than the other.

[skisox34]

Peek-n-Peak, NY has two double triples and one double double. The double triples are used to increase capacity on busy days and the double double is in the beginners area and one side goes up 3/4 of the way and the other to the top. All three are CTECs. The first one was built in '86 to replace the dual t-bars and are lifts 6& 7 The the double triple Lifts 1& 2 were built in 1990 as an expansion area and the beginners area was rebuilt the same time with Double- double lifts 4& 5.

[seilbahnbilder.ch]

Double Quad in Scheffau, Austria.

In Europe this kind of lift was built, because then it wasn't allowed to built fixed grip chairs with more than 4 seats. An other reason is, that as larger as the chairs are, als lower the permitted operation speed is.

[DonaldMReif]

This is like the Double Double at Bromley Ski Area in Vermont. However, the left lift (Sun) goes farther up than the right lift (Alpine). Also, Alpine serves the Alpine Slide. Sun's towers above the Alpine's upper station are double double lift towers, for a potential extension of Alpine (probably won't happen )

[ceo]

lift_electrical, on 21 June 2009 - 08:36 PM, said:

Sugarloaf, Spillway East and West, and Double Bummer East and West, Borvig double doubles. One side shorter than the other.

Double Runner, I think you mean. :-) Double Runner West has a midstation where East ends (at the base of Spillway), and continues as a conventional lift. Spillway was built as a double-double all the way up, but the west side wasn't put in until a few years later, and only runs to the bottom of Sluice Headwall. (Spillway East has a really long span between towers here, which makes for quite a ride if the lift stops when you're in the middle of it.)

They seem to have been popular for a while in the 70s; I didn't actually know there were this many. I think the attractive things about them at the time was that they were cheaper than building two separate lifts and could be faster than a quad (in those pre-HSQ days). Spillway is the fastest fixed-grip chair I've ever ridden.

[lift_electrical]

ceo, on 10 July 2009 - 11:50 AM, said:

Double Runner, I think you mean. :-) Double Runner West has a midstation where East ends (at the base of Spillway), and continues as a conventional lift. Spillway was built as a double-double all the way up, but the west side wasn't put in until a few years later, and only runs to the bottom of Sluice Headwall. (Spillway East has a really long span between towers here, which makes for quite a ride if the lift stops when you're in the middle of it.)

They seem to have been popular for a while in the 70s; I didn't actually know there were this many. I think the attractive things about them at the time was that they were cheaper than building two separate lifts and could be faster than a quad (in those pre-HSQ days). Spillway is the fastest fixed-grip chair I've ever ridden.

When I worked there, we knew it as double bummer because of the lines of skiers that used to stack up there. The gondola did not provide great uphill capacity. I want to say spillway ran 450 feet/minute but that was a long time ago in my maintenance days there. You are right, a stop in that span on spillway east provided many thrills.

[Skier123]

DonaldMReif, on 05 July 2009 - 01:39 PM, said:

This is like the Double Double at Bromley Ski Area in Vermont. However, the left lift (Sun) goes farther up than the right lift (Alpine). Also, Alpine serves the Alpine Slide. Sun's towers above the Alpine's upper station are double double lift towers, for a potential extension of Alpine (probably won't happen )

Yeah, Alpine and Sun were built by Hall years ago, so it seems unlikely they will extend the lift.

[skiPhreak]

I want to say that these double double lifts were built for capacity. Many were built while only FG quads were available. As capacity increases especially with FG lifts more capacity = more chance of someone falling and stopping the lift. With a double double when someone falls only half the lift has to stop. Also it is much easier to get 2 people loaded onto a chair at one time than it is to get 4 or 6 people loaded on a chair at the same time. The capacity would be more like a HSQ which has less stopping than a FG quad.

[snowmaster]

Loon had a Hall double double where the Kanc Quad stands now, plainly called wI and wII. The left chair ended where the quad does now, the right chair eneded at the bottom of Northstar (which then was not a trail at all. The longer lift continued on conventiona towers above the shorter one.

Sugarloaf, previously mentioned seemed to have a fetish for these.. their West mountian chair is on double double towers, although a second chair was never added to them.

Sunday River's Sundace chair, recently removed was on double towers. My understanding was the unused side was to be the North Peak lift before the triple (now Perfect Turn Quad) was built instead. The line-up for the top of North peak was perfect, and it would have been a good idea. The current alignment serves no spectacular terrain and is a little short. The double-double solution would have helped move butts out or South Ridge, a sorely needed thing before the Chondola.

Attitash has an odditty, a double double with mechanically joined bottom terminals in the same building, but independant towers.

Now to the OP, I realize a list of double doubles wasn't what was asked. I think they're a good choice when more capacity than a double is needed and there's a simple and logical separation of users that justifies it. For Loon, the shorter side was good for beginners before there was much of a beginners' complex on the Governor Adams side and also for people just trying to get over to the gondola and Octagon base. Same idea for a second West Mtn. chair at Sugarloaf, the short side would have been good for people who just wanted to take West Mtn. X-Cut to the main base area. Also, an area that knows it will need the capacity will build half a double double and be able to put the second side in less expensively having the towers already.